Selections from the key texts of Muslim Hanafi law

[Muslim law]. Kitab al-Nuqayah.

€ 6.500,00

A finely decorated manuscript on Muslim Hanafi law known as the "Kitab al-Nuqayah". Composed by an unknown author, it was based on a well-known medieval work titled "Fatawa Qadi Khan", completed by the jurist Qadi Khan in the 12th century CE. The "Fatawa Qadi Khan" was widely read among Muslim jurists, and the present text based upon it was also well known in its time; today, this work can be found in at least one printed edition. Its authorship, however, remains a mystery, having been variously attributed to at least three different Hanafi scholars. This copy was completed by the scribe Muhammad bin Jalil in the city of Amasiyah (Amasya), in what was then Ottoman Turkey.

Two other texts on Muslim law are bound together with the "Kitab al-Nuqayah"; all three were completed at roughly the same time as the main manuscript, and likely also in Amasya or the immediate surroundings. These texts comprise:

I. The complete chapter on inheritance from the immensely popular Hanafi fiqh manual by Imam al-Quduri (973-1037 CE), titled "Mukhtasar al-Quduri", so important that it is known among Hanafi scholars simply as "al-Kitab".

II. A seven-page work on inheritance law titled here as "Jawhar-i Fara'id" by Shihab ibn 'Ali Talib, a compendium on the Islamic law of succession.

Taken together, this manuscript provides a glimpse into the range of scholarly texts with which an 18th century Hanafi scholar would be expected to be familiar, and includes a nicely hand-gilded copy of the "Kitab al-Nuqayah".